Kaitlyn bolted up in bed in a cold sweat. She nearly fell out in a panic, and then managed to right herself. After catching her breath, she managed to calm down and glanced at the clock. 12:30 AM. Fucking great. She knew that she always took at least an hour and a half to get to sleep, and she had to be to work at 4:30.

She let out a deep sigh and flopped down on the bed. It was probably storming outside, she thought, the thunder must’ve woken her up. After a bit of thought, she decided it might be a good idea to go into the kitchen and grab a glass of milk or something, she didn’t care. Anything to help her get back to sleep. She got up and pulled on a shirt and a pair of shorts and walked out to her kitchen groggily, without bothering to turn on a light.

She opened the fridge and tried to gain her bearings as she poured herself a glass of milk. She
sat down and gazed out the window. Something seemed off… which was strange, because the night was as still as ever, with no wind and the trees seemingly transfixed to the ground, and raindrops falling all around them. Suddenly, she saw something dart among the trees. She gasped in fear, but then got the better of herself as logic kicked in. It must have just been part of her overreactive imagination. Whatever she thought she saw out there couldn’t have been real. It couldn’t have… she gained confidence in this thought. Nothing could hurt her. She was in her house with locks on all the doors and a rigged security system. Nevertheless, she got up and slowly inched over to the knife rack just to feel more secure.

After finishing her glass of milk, she turned to the sink and rinsed out her cup. She felt safer now, so it came as a surprise when she turned around and saw a dark figure standing in her window. She screamed, a loud, shrill scream, and turned to whip a knife out of the rack, but when she turned back the figure was gone. In a state of near shock that was more a result of surprise than fear, she dropped the knife and ran back to her room. She locked her door behind her and crawled into bed, sobbing.

Fear was now taking back over, and she couldn’t get the image of that figure out of her head. It had been average height and humanoid, that she was sure of. She told herself it might have just been a teenager, wanting to roam the neighborhood at night and maybe vandalize a few buildings. But something made her feel otherwise. She wasn’t sure what, maybe it was its stillness, maybe it was the way it showed no sign of surprise when it was found out. But what really scared her was that she couldn’t see the face. It was standing right outside her window, and she couldn’t see its fucking face. She hoped maybe it was wearing a hood, and that might have been the reason. It was cold out, after all.

These thoughts quickly disappeared as she heard a noise from the living room. It sounded like a scratching at the door. She quickly burrowed under her covers and stayed still. If the security system worked… No, WHEN the security system worked whoever it was or whatever it was would be hauled off by the police and they could take care of it. This thought calmed her down, and she relaxed a bit.
Suddenly, the scratching stopped altogether. She froze. The lock on the door clicked, and she heard the door swing open. Tears began to flow down her cheeks again as she realized the police were not coming. That thing had somehow unlocked her door, and… it was in her house. She heard a shuffling noise, and then a slight thud. She started shaking uncontrollably as she understood that these were the sound of this thing’s footsteps. Shuffle, thud. Shuffle, thud. Shuffle, thud. The noises grew louder as it came down her hallway.

She heard it slowly open the door to her spare bedroom, and let out a sigh of relief. Maybe it would just go through that room and leave. She nearly choked in surprise when she heard a loud ripping noise. It had just torn up her other bed! She heard the monster let out a strangled, low scream of anger, and then a faster shuffling towards… her room.

She heard it start scratching at the door, and the knob began turning back and forth. She suddenly bolted up in bed and screamed, “WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME???” The creature at her door didn’t answer. The scratching got louder and louder, and then it stopped. The lock on the knob turned. Her door swung open, and the thing stumbled through.

It was… hideous. To say the least. It was wearing a long, black hooded robe, and it had mottled, shrunken brown fingers with nails that were so long they looked more like claws. Kaitlyn was so frightened she couldn’t make a noise as it seemingly glided straight up to her bed and pulled down its hood. Kaitlyn let out a shrill squeak of fear as she saw its face. It had frayed black hair that hung down to its shoulders, and skin that was rotted and even torn in some places. But the worst part was its eyes. Its eyes were sewn tightly shut, so tight that blood seeped out through some places that the thread cut in too deep. It let out a tortured moan as it reached towards Kaitlyn’s neck. She dodged its grasp and tried to make for the door, but the creature that was once so slow darted there before her and closed it. Kaitlyn frantically backed up, only to find herself in a tight corner. The creature’s claws sped towards her neck. Kaitlyn opened her mouth one last time to scream, but she never got the chance….

­Headline News for January 23, 2012­
Kaitlyn Miller, a 23­ year­ old secretary for a local businessman, was declared missing last night at 2:00 am. Local police were called to her house after reports from neighbors saying that they had heard terrified screams coming from her bedroom. When they arrived on the scene, her bedroom was overturned, with a dirty black robe lying on the floor and blood on the bedsheets and wall. This blood, after a DNA sample, was confirmed as not her own. Foul play is suspected, but as of now Ms. Miller is nowhere to be found. (end of article)

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn roamed the woods, about five miles from her house. She staggered around with patches of hair missing and tattered clothes. All she could think about was how she needed to find someone to take her place…
Her eyes were stitched shut.